music and random culture

Author: datz

I heard this on John Peel and loved it. I really didn’t know anything else about the band except they came from Norwich. Lots of information can now be found over on the Farmers Boys unofficial website. (Oh, I’d forgotten that they had mild chart success with a cover version of Cliff Richard’s “In the … More crackle and pop: the farmers boys – “apparently”

A day spent walking the High Crag – High Stile – Red Pike ridge from Buttermere in September 2008. The photo was taken from High Crag looking south east across the Ennerdale valley. Windy Gap can clearly be seen as the notch on the left skyline between Green Gable and Great Gable with Scafell Pike … More monday photo: great gable and the scafells

Today’s track is Native Land by Everything But The Girl featuring Jonny Marr on harmonica. “Don’t ever let me hear you say This is the life we folks must lead Do you think silver turns our locks? What gold do you think paves our streets?” It’s a bit of a lost single coming out between … More crackle and pop: native land by everything but the girl

Dave Hutchinson Europe in Autumn An intriguing tale of a near future europe splintering into hundreds of small states. Through and across it range the “coureurs des bois” smugglers and traders in anything anyone wants. The novel is part science fiction part a Le Carre spy story and is an excellent romp, with some twists setting … More May books

In 2004 myself and my partner made the first of many visits to The Leadmill in Sheffield. We were going to see Cinerama. I knew very little about the band, but I had heard a Peel live at Maida Vale session and liked what I heard. Deep breath. I’d never heard of David Gedge. … More tuesday tune: the wedding present – brassneck

I had wanted a new phone for over a year as I was struggling on with an old iPhone 4. However having recently retired and being on a low income I couldn’t justify or afford a new iPhone, so I began to look at Android phones. They needed to be fairly cheap and contract free, … More Moving from iOS to Android: a switchers tale

Traditional “Carrelets”(fishing huts) face out to the Gironde estuary at Talmont-sur-Gironde, Charente-Maritime, France. An excellent article on the huts can be found over on the Invisible Bordeaux blog.

Not long after leaving Japan in 1982 David Sylvian appeared on TV ( I’ve forgotten the programme) performing an acoustic version of an old song “The Other Side of Life” from the album Quiet Life. The miracle of Youtube as ever has an uploaded copy. It does though, give us very few clues to the … More crackle and pop: david sylvian – brilliant trees